I currently have... well, a bunch... of short scale basses. Only 2 of them don'tt wear flats; an older, MIK Rogue VB-100, which for several reasons - not all having to do with tone - wears Roto TRuBass88 Tapes. And, the Gretsch Broadkaster wears TI Jazz Rounds. Mainly because they're the only strings that makes it sound like a bass... I've owned some of these basses for many years, and IME? Here's what I know about flat wounds and short scale basses;
1. On a short scale bass, flat wounds - with few exceptions - are all about the fundamental notes. Don't expect the harmonics that you'll get with flats on a long scale bass - they usually ain't there. If you just have to have them? Very light gauge flats are your best bet. I can get harmonic overtones - a little, anyway - from the 39-96 La Bella 760FX's on my Dano Longhorn. You might get them from the light gauge GHS precision flats; I can't, but that's probably more to do with the basses - and the particular pickups - they're on. A Tribute Fallout? Maybe yes; maybe no... The 43-104 La Bella 760Fl's I use? Uhh... no. Same goes for DR Legends. TI JF324's will give you harmonics, but they're almost certainly too long for a "normal" short scale bass, and they are awfully... flexible, as well. Which brings me to...
2. Tension and stiffness. Although I do use lighter gauge flats on a couple of my shortys, I find that, usually, anything lighter than 45-100 gauge gets pretty flexible, pretty quick. That's fine if you like that sort of thing, but I prefer stiffer strings, myself. Makes playing with a pick much easier, and after playing flats that way for decades, that's what works best for me. Of course, YMMV...
So, it just depends on what you want from your flats on your new bass. It seems that more of my shorty's wear the GHS precision flats than anything else - and I do like them, even on some of my long scale basses. You might like them - or you might not...
